A Blue King's Story
by NoOneKnowsIWriteThis
Summary: Cardverse AU smut between Alfred, the King, and Arthur, who's been trained for years for this moment.
1. Meeting

**From 9/2011**

I'm still not completely sure how he got there, all I know is that one day Arthur was sitting on my bed wearing enough clothes to preserve modesty should he get thrown out, but that still showed exactly why he was there.

His white tunic was unlaced, revealing a triangle of pale skin that stopped just above his navel. To match that he wore light blue silk stockings that were met by short tight navy breeches that barely came onto his legs and hid nothing except color from the roving eye. On his feet he work navy and bright blue pumps that resembled the fashion of a few months past.

"Your Majesty," he purred after giving me a moment to drink in the sight of him. When I didn't respond, too shocked to even think of moving, he slowly, gracefully, stood and glided across the room with none of the overt sexuality of a common whore, but all the natural ease of a nobleman. "What do you wish of me?" The words ghosted over his pale pink lips, lips the color of the Queen of Hearts' cherry blossoms.

I knew that he meant me no harm, because if he had he wouldn't have made it past the magical wards set in place around my room. But even so, I had no idea who this man was or what exactly he was after.

He watched me with his green eyes, green like the Clubs Kingdom's finest clover hedges. When I still gave no response, he cupped my cheek with his hand. It was soft, I noticed, unused to work, unlike my own. He caressed my cheek slowly, letting his hand run down my face, down my neck, to the collar of my shirt, where my own hand met his, captured it, and pulled it away.

"What are you doing here?" I demanded softly, but firmly. "Who are you?"

His flirtatious expression didn't falter or change at all as he answered. "My name is Arthur Kirkland, and I'm here to please you, Your Majesty." He slid his free hand over my waistcoat to rest his fingertips on my collarbone, still hidden beneath layers of clothing.

"Kirkland," I muttered, placing my free hand over his to keep him from moving it any farther. "Aren't you a noble then?" The Kirklands had always been a moderately powerful family in the Kingdom of Spades, although I hadn't seen them much since taking the throne and had heard rumors that they'd fallen upon hard times due to the eldest brother's gambling streak.

Arthur nodded, somehow managing to make that simple affirmative one of the most sultry things I'd ever seen. "By birth, yes," he whispered breathlessly, as if asking him about his background had somehow aroused him.

"What," I asked, pulling his hand off my chest and bringing all our hands between us, "is a nobleman doing in my room, acting like some tart off the streets?" I placed both of his hands in one of mine easily, gently pushing him back towards the bed.

His face flushed, probably from embarrassment, but he played it off as arousal. "The Kirkland family has always offered to provide companionship for the Spade Royalty. I assure you, I'm very skilled, and I can use magic too. If you'd prefer a woman, I could easily..." he trailed off, eyes slipping closed as the back of his legs hit my bed.

"How did you get in here?" I let Arthur's hands go and grasped as his shoulders instead. I could feel the hidden strength in his body through the thin material of his tunic, lean muscles that could doubtlessly contort into any position I could imagine.

"Magic," he exhaled softly. He slowly turned his brilliant green eyes on me, half-covered by his lashes in a disturbingly good imitation of modesty. "Will you tell me what you want, Your Majesty?"

Now, I have always tried to be a good king, a good man, an upstanding man. But when Arthur looked at me that way, I found my resolve crumbling. I wanted to do what would be right: force this stranger out of my chambers and refuse to have any part of this revolting arrangement, but with Arthur's eyes on me like that, I just couldn't do it. Suddenly I found my arousal at this situation, at this man who had presented himself to me, at the forefront of my mind. I found my long-suppressed desires emerging from where I'd hidden them even before I'd become king.

I wanted this. Badly.

I hesitantly took my hands from Arthur's shoulders and used them to cup his face, gently guiding him into an amateur kiss. Arthur must have understood what I was unable to do or say because he immediately took control, opening his mouth and guiding my tongue through it, then conquering mine in return, in a way that spoke of his plentiful experience.

When he released me, I pulled back and panted heavily as he watched, a sultry smile on his face.

"Is this your first time?" he asked tenderly, helping me remove my navy blue tailcoat and letting it fall carelessly to the floor.

I swallowed nervously before nodding. My only other experience had been when a farm girl from Clubs had mistaken me for my brother and proceeded to kiss me senseless until Matthew had appeared and separated us. She had burst into tears and begged forgiveness for her mistake, which we both, naturally, gave to her.

Arthur simply offered me a gentle smile as he slid his hands over my waistcoat, letting them rest just below my shoulders. "Then I'll make it easy for you," he purred. I watched as he made quick work of the waistcoat's buttons and pushed the whole garment off my chest. His face showed nothing but a generally sultry look as he traced his hands up my chest to just below the knot on my azure tie. He took the piece of silk into his hands and carefully led me onto my bed. Once there, he decided that the tie was now useless, swiftly undid it and tossed it aside, moving on to removing my button-down shirt.

"How much control do you want, Your Majesty?" he asked as he slowly worked at opening my shirt. "You'll be inside me, naturally, but do you want me to entirely please you or do you want to help too?"

"Alfred," I murmured, running my hands uselessly up and down his sides. "Call me Alfred, please." I'd never truly gotten used to people using my title to talk to me, and I couldn't stand him using it in this situation.

Arthur nodded, finishing the last button before speaking. "Very well, Alfred. There are three ways we could do this: me on my back facing you, me on my hands and knees with you behind, and you on your back with me riding you. Which would you prefer?"

I tried to imagine each of the positions he described, but I naturally had no idea which was better. However, I knew that I didn't want to hurt Arthur in my ignorance. "The last one?" I answered tentatively, guessing that Arthur would be best able to keep the experience pleasant that way.

"Alright," he whispered. He reached his hand down to undo my pants as I slid out of my shirt. But as I did, he looked into my eyes and whispered "Whatever you want, you can have."

I took that as an invitation and slid my hands down to his hips, then ran them along the waistband of his breeches until I found the laces that held them up. With shaking hands, I untied the strings. We both sat there for a moment, me half-naked and him half-dressed, both our pants undone, watching each other hungrily. He knew exactly what was going to happen next, and while I didn't, I did know that whatever it was, I wanted it.

Arthur moved first, sitting up and sliding the breeches to his knees, then rolling back and pulling them all the way off, all in one smooth motion. Although I'd gotten a flash of pale skin when Arthur had rolled back, the style of clothing he'd worn meant that his long shirt covered his hips, but it also doubled as underwear, and the knowledge that I didn't have to remove any other layers from Arthur if I didn't want to aroused me to the point where my open pants were uncomfortable. I got off the bed and slid them off and my underwear too, letting them pool on the ground, then rejoined Arthur, who had just finished pulling his shirt over his head and tossed it into some corner of the room.

He watched me with half-lidded eyes, his blue silk-covered legs spread, revealing to me his hard cock. Compared to his mine looked almost swollen; it was a dark, reddish color, and, now that I could see it, I could feel its ache and the desire for release.

Arthur drunk this in, the sight of me, a virgin king, eager and needy for his assistance, the help of a trained courtesan. When I made no move to do anything more Arthur sighed and commented on my situation. "Foreplay will have to wait, I see."

He turned onto his hands and knees and crawled over to my bedside table, revealing his beautifully shaped ass. I had never wanted to touch something so much in my entire life. So I did. If he was startled by the sudden placement of my sword-and-plow-calloused hands on his soft, smooth rear, he gave no sign. He did, however, turn his head to give me a smoldering look over his shoulder. "Why don't you undo the stockings," he suggested with his velvet voice.

I ran my hands across his hips and thighs until I found the strings for one of the stockings on the inside of his upper thigh and the other stocking's in the same place on his other leg. With trembling hands, I undid the ties for both and, trying my best to keep the silk from clinging to my rough fingers, slid them down to Arthur's knees.

Once I'd done that I glanced over to see what Arthur was doing at the table and saw him fiddling with a blue clay jar that I'd never seen before and definitely hadn't put on that table. "What is that?" I asked curiously.

"Oil," Arthur replied, pulling two of his fingers out of the jar obviously well-coated in the stuff. "You should put some of it on yourself, it will make it feel better."

I looked at him, then at the jar, then back to him. "Where do I put it?" I asked, realizing the answer as soon as the question had left my mouth.

Arthur let out a soft chuckle and looked pointedly at my cock. I blushed in embarrassment and crawled over to reach my hand into the jar. I quickly, though probably poorly, covered myself with the stuff.

"What are you going to do with it?" I asked, glancing at his slick fingers.

A sultry smile appeared on Arthur's face. "Lie back and I'll take care of everything," he purred, rewarding me with a series of kisses down my neck when I lay down. Arthur followed me quickly, straddling my hips. His oil-covered fingers disappeared behind him, but I guessed from what I could see of his hand, that they were going into his asshole. A soft whine escaped my lips, I was suddenly very envious of those fingers.

Arthur looked at me with half-lidded eyes. "Soon, Alfred," he promised quietly. Barely a moment passed before he removed his fingers and positioned himself over my aching erection. I watched, moaning somewhat, as Arthur slowly lowered himself down onto my cock. He paused a bit to observe my reaction. I was panting, desperate for movement, my face flushed with arousal and desire. My hips snapped up of their own accord, catching Arthur a little off-guard, but he quickly regained control.

He slowly lifted his hips up, letting my cock slide mostly out of him, and then snapped them back down, engulfing me once more as our skin made a slapping sound when it met. My own hips moved too, bucking on their own with no pattern or method.

Arthur had only moved a few times before I came, a jumbled mess of words escaping my mouth, stars appearing before my eyes, losing myself from this world.

When I regained awareness, Arthur was sitting between my spread feet with a wet cloth in his hand, my seed cleaned away. "You're still hard," I commented as I sat up, noticing his obviously unsatisfied erection. For some reason this shamed me. This had been my first time, and Arthur had done all the work, but I still felt like it was my responsibility to give him his release.

He looked away, a sliver of embarrassment playing on his face. "I-I'm sorry, Your Majesty," he stammered, head bowed slightly. "I didn't think to make myself cum first." He looked so ashamed of himself. I wanted to reach out and hold him, but I didn't think that would be appreciated.

"I'll do it," I announced suddenly. I couldn't watch him like that, and I couldn't just let him sit there without release. I may have been a virgin before that night, but I knew how painful it was to have to ignore a needy cock.

His head shot up, messy blond hair swirling freely about his head before falling back into place. "What?" he asked as if he couldn't believe or understand what he'd just heard. "Your Majesty?"

"Come here," I said firmly. "I'll take care of it." He stared at me for a moment, incredulous, then he crawled into my lap, placing the cloth on the table beside the jar of oil.

"Your Majesty?" he echoed, still seeming a bit lost. I ran one hand through his hair and down his face, resting my fingers just behind his ear, my thumb on his cheek.

"Alfred," I insisted, slowly running my other hand down his chest, enjoying how he felt. Arthur was lean, but he was strong. There was power hidden inside his slender frame. My hand came to a halt on his hip. "It's Alfred, Arthur," I whispered to his awe-struck face as I carefully grasped his cock and began to stroke.

It was wonderful to get to watch his face as I tried my best to please him. Arthur let me handle stroking him as best I could, but he took my other hand in his and guided it across his body, helping me find where to touch and how. As we did this, Arthur had a gloriously aroused and pleasured expression on his face. His mouth hung open, his tongue just barely held behind his teeth, and his entire face covered a beautiful red blush as he mewled and panted and moaned at my touch. I don't know how much of his reaction was real and how much was faked, but I didn't care. Arthur was gorgeous like this, not focused on giving me pleasure, but on receiving his own.

And when he came, Arthur screamed my name. Maybe he did it to please me, I don't know, but please me it did.

Arthur quickly recovered from his high, which disappointed me because I was more than willing to keep watching that dazed happy look on his face for a while longer. He looked up at me, his lovely green eyes hazy with pleasure.

"Th-thank you...Your Majesty," he panted out, trying to support himself rather than give into the temptation to lean on me. "Will that...will that be all?"

I nodded, a little stunned by how quickly Arthur had returned to formality and a business-like attitude. Arthur jerked his head and grabbed the cloth from the table, quickly cleaning his spend off my chest and himself. Once that was done he moved to leave.

"Wait!" I exclaimed, finding my voice again. "Stay. Here, with me. Please?" I'm not sure why I asked that of him. Maybe because it was my first time and I wanted to at least pretend that it had an intimate experience between two people who cared for each other rather than Arthur's job. But Arthur slowly, almost warily crawled back to me. "Now go to sleep," I murmured, pulling him against me as I lay down. I knew that there would be problems in the morning, probably from me regretting this, but right then I just wanted to sleep holding the man I'd lost my virginity to in my arms.

The morning didn't bring any lessening of guilt, like I'd hoped, but rather the light that shone into my room made it all the more obvious that I had done wrong. Night, and the darkness it brings, had provided a cloak to hide the extent of my sin from me, but this shield scurried away under the damning light of the sun.

Arthur was still wrapped warmly, naked, in my arms. As I lay cursed by the morning, he slowly roused.

"Your Majesty?" he asked blearily, sleep still maintaining a hold on his mind, fogging his brain and slowing his thoughts.

I looked at him. I still couldn't believe what I had done. I, who had so strongly objected to the slavery of the Clubs kingdom and large brothels of the Diamond kingdom, had taken a courtesan, from a long line of courtesans, to bed.

My horror and disgust must have shown on my face because Arthur quickly crawled out of my weak grasp and pulled on his shirt. "I'm sorry," he said softly, his voice breaking the silence. "I...I'm sorry."

I think something like "Oh god what have I done" must have fallen out of my mouth because Arthur just stood where he was, his head lowered as an apology, and I may have started crying. At some point Arthur came over to me and knelt beside my bed.

"Your Majesty," he murmured, "if you want me to, I'll leave and never return. I could even erase last night from your memory, if you'd like." I stared at him in amazement.

"What would happen to you?" I asked softly, sounding lost and broken, weak, like the farm boy I was and always would be no matter how many rich garments and jewels I wore.

Arthur raised his head and looked at me curiously. "You need not concern yourself with me, Your Majesty. There is always a place for someone with my...skills." He offered me a small self-deprecating smile that didn't come anywhere close to reaching his eyes.

"Arthur..." I was caught. I couldn't let him leave, not knowing what would happen to him. Even if I wouldn't remember, I knew now and couldn't let it happen. I couldn't let this horrible practice continue, not when I could stop it.

"I'll just cast the spell and leave," Arthur announced quietly. "I-I'll need your hand, Your Majesty." He held out his own hand in order to take mine.

"No," I declared, taking hold of Arthur's arm. "No, you won't." I pulled him up and partially onto the bed. "You'll stay here with me." Now it was his turn to be lost.

"Your Majesty?" His whole body was trembling, but whether it was nerves, excitement, or cold, I didn't know. "I thought you didn't..."

"I don't," I confirmed, pushing myself upright into a sitting position. "I want to marry you."

Arthur's mouth fell open and his lips moved frantically, but no sound came out.

"I have to marry sooner or later," I explained. "And since I'm a bastard farm boy," Arthur visibly twitched at my blunt mention of the condition of my birth, "it's expected that I'll marry a noble so that the queen will be able to better help me, and you _are_ a noble." I waited for a response, when none came I let out a sigh and dropped Arthur's hand.

"I should sleep in the Queen's chambers," Arthur said suddenly, drawing my attention back to him, to his lovely face. "That way people won't think you're marrying me for...other reasons. You shouldn't sully your reputation by publicly linking yourself with the Kirklands, but since you plan to, you should give the impression of ignorance."

I felt a smile spread entirely across my face and it took all of my will-power to keep from leaping off the bed and embracing Arthur. "Thank you!" I exclaimed. He had accepted. I was absolved of my guilt and together we could work towards eliminating the horrible practice entirely.

"Don't misunderstand, I'm not doing this for your sake," Arthur said huffily, turning away from me slightly, but not enough to hide the smile on his face. "I'm doing it for the good of the kingdom." He turned back to give me a disdainful look, but then quickly dropped it and belatedly added. "Your Majesty."

"Alfred!" I insisted, deciding to pull Arthur into an embrace despite our undressed state. "Always call me Alfred."

"V-very well then...Alfred," Arthur murmured, letting himself be hugged and burying his flushed face into my shoulder.

"Thank you," I whispered softly, but if Arthur heard me, he made no sign.

A/N: So one day I sat down to work on my two meme fills, one is at a fluffy point and another is at an angsty point, but my brain said "No, you will write porn now" and who am I to argue with that? I think part of my inspiration for this fic is my fascination with the idea of courtesans and my love of the Cardverse AU.

In this story, "courtesan" is used more in the modern sense meaning a prostitute or escort, especially one that attracts after wealthy clients, but courtesans are more like Europe's geishas in a way. Sex was only a part of what they did, many had a career in the arts, and they had to be ready to discuss many different topics.

Arthur is basically a Companion, if any of you are Firefly/Serenity fans out there, intended to serve one member of the Spade Royalty (King, Queen, or Jack) exclusively, although he would also be willing to serve a member of the upper Spade nobility if rejected by the Royalty. The Kirkland family has traditionally trained at least one member each generation to be a "courtesan" (Arthur would call himself, yes, a companion). For various reasons, that probably won't make it into any further installments of this, none of his other siblings received this training. For those of you who are curious (in order of age, all are male unless marked otherwise): Ireland (female) was arranged into a beneficial marriage at birth, Scotland as first-born son was appointed heir, Wales joined a monastery before his training could begin, Northern Ireland trained to be a knight instead, and Sealand was chosen to be a Joker.

 **This is a very old story, my writing has greatly improved since. I'm uploading it here for archival purposes. Please keep that in mind before offering constructive criticism.**


	2. Message

**From 9/2011**

Arthur made a brilliant queen, and I mean that in all senses of the word. He was so incredibly clever, it was a shame that all his energy up until I took him had been devoted to learning how to pleasure people, he knew how to deal with court intrigue too, but most of what he'd studied had been skills for his former occupation. He was also, of course, visually stunning, always dressed fantastically in a way that emphasized his already unquestionable beauty. And there is no doubt that he was a wonderful queen.

The first thing he planned out was for us to run into each other in the castle library and begin talking, giving me an acceptable way to have met him and a good, public, reason to choose him as my queen: he knew far more about managing the kingdom than I did.

He was in my room again that night wearing just the shirt from the previous night and a sash tied loosely around his waist. "Alfred," he whispered breathlessly, gliding quickly to me and wrapping his arms lightly around my neck.

"Arthur, what...?" I asked, unable to find the words I desperately needed.

"I'm here for you, Your...Alfred," he replied, his vivid green eyes watching me carefully.

I reached up and pulled his arms off of me. "You don't have to do this, Arthur," I insisted softly. "You'll be queen soon. You don't have to keep doing this."

Arthur spun around, twisting his hands out of my grasp, and leaned against me, looking up over his shoulder to watch my expression. "It's my job to serve you, Your Majesty, Alfred. Whether I'm queen, courtesan, or simple subject, as a citizen of Spades, it is my duty to serve you in any and every way I can."

I tried to focus on our words and ignore how nice it felt to have Arthur's body pressed gently against mine. "A-Arthur," I muttered, cursing myself for stuttering, "the point of marrying you was so you wouldn't be a courtesan, so we could stop the whole business, so you could help me."

Arthur's lips twitched upwards, he knew that wasn't all of my reasoning. "It's not just to alleviate your guilt?" he asked with faked innocence, his lashes falling to partially obscure his eyes. I tried to stammer a protest, but Arthur ran a slow, teasing, hand up the inside of my leg, drawing a half-muffled moan out of my mouth.

"B-but," I objected weakly, letting him drag me to the bed.

"Alfred," he murmured, "I read people. You want this. You try to ignore it because you have a misplaced sense of guilt about the position you feel I'm in. I'm here of my own free will, Alfred." He kissed me softly before falling back onto the bed, pulling me over him. "Let yourself relax and enjoy this."

"What if someone finds us?" I asked, just looking for an excuse to get out of the situation. Arthur was completely right about me. I wanted to have him again, but I also felt responsible for putting Arthur in a position where he owed me.

Arthur reached up and ran his fingers soothingly through my hair. "I'll make them forget. I have skills beyond the bedroom after all," he purred, velvety-soft and seductive in my ear.

Feeling somewhat comforted, I couldn't suppress my arousal anymore. I sat on the bed, straddling Arthur's legs and, my hands trembling with either nervousness or excitement, I began to remove my clothes as quickly as possible. Arthur smiled flirtatiously up at me, watching me eagerly. As soon as my shirt was out of the way he rose up to meet me, attacking my chest with tender kisses.

I gasped and moaned under his attentions, all of it only serving to arouse me more. When Arthur finally pulled away I groaned at the lack of contact. He wrapped his arms around my neck and I wrapped mine around his waist.

"You deserve this, Alfred," he whispered in my ear. "Dealing with the nobility all day, learning how to manage your kingdom, and sitting through all those meetings, you deserve some fun every once in a while." He reached down and worked at undoing my pants, trusting me to hold him up. Once that was done, he retreated to the head of the bed while I slipped my clothes off onto the floor. As soon as I could, I pursued him and pressed him down, kissing his mouth, working at the sash around his waist with unsteady hands.

"Same as the last time?" Arthur asked when I released his lips.

"Y-yeah," I answered, breathing heavily. "Just make sure you cum." Arthur nodded and rolled us so that he was on top.

"Of course," Arthur murmured as he pulled his shirt over his head and threw it to the ground. Then he slid down my body so that his hips were almost to my knees.

"Where're you going?" I inquired, my hips bucking of their own accord, my cock needy and demanding attention.

A small smile, almost a smirk, appeared on Arthur's face. "Don't worry," he said softly, gently. "You'll like it." Then suddenly, his mouth engulfed my cock. I groaned, naturally, my head flew back and my eyes shut in pleasure. I have no words to describe how good it felt, how skilled Arthur was. And god the _noises_ he made, vibrating in his mouth around me.

I did manage to push myself up so I could watch Arthur, and may I just say, that was a beautiful sight. He noticed me watching and his lusty eyes sparkled at me as he pulled his mouth off, drawing a desperate whine out of me.

He offered me a smug smile as he straddled my hips and positioned himself. "Enjoy the show," he whispered, slowly lowering himself down and taking in my cock slowly. My hips snapped upwards impatiently, but Arthur was ready for it this time and let me push my way into him.

"Wh-what about the oil?" I panted, my body trembling with pleasure.

"Don't need it," Arthur replied quickly. He wrapped his hand around his cock and stroked it quickly as he rode me, fighting my chaotic thrusting every step of the way. Arthur came first this time, but just barely and it was only because he was so skilled. I was actually disappointed to come down from my pleasure high and find Arthur already off of me and cleaning away our seed.

I waited until he finished, watching him efficiently erase the evidence of our activity. "Can you stay?" I asked.

Arthur started at my voice. "Of course, Alfred," he answered, saying my name the way most people said my title.

I watched him crawl over to me, leaving the cloth on the table like last time. "No panic in the morning this time?" he asked, only half-joking.

"I don't think so," I replied, only half-sure, wrapping my arms around him.

We lay there in silence, both of us trying to force our bodies to relax. "How's your work coming?" Arthur muttered. It was almost as if he could sense my tension and was trying to distract me.

"Better, with all the help you gave me today." I sighed and rubbed circles into Arthur's back. "I could propose making you queen now and none of my advisers would be surprised."

Arthur chuckled at that and used one of his hands to gently cup my cheek. For a moment, I felt almost like we were a normal couple. Then Arthur broke the silence. "They'd still be appalled." He brushed my cheek with his thumb. "The king marrying a Kirkland."

I know it isn't very kingly, but I pouted. "It's not like I'd have gotten that much choice anyway," I grumbled.

One of the things that had most disappointed me when I'd first been taken away to become king was the discovery that I would have very little say in who I married. If I'd been raised as a noble by my father and not on a country farm by my mother, I would have had the freedom to marry below the nobility. I could still have my choice, my advisers assured me, as long as it was a strategic one that would aid in the betterment of the kingdom. Basically, marry a noble, preferably a higher ranked one or a favored one from another country. The last thing Spades needed was two members of the royalty being completely unused to the politics and intrigues of court.

Arthur offered me a soft smile, that almost looked slightly pained. "Go to sleep, Alfred," he murmured. And soon his gentle attentions caused me to do just that.

Over the next few days, I spent more time with Arthur, both in and out of bed. Most of my time during the day was devoted to hunting him down in the library and asking for his assistance with this tax or that decree. Before long I was bringing him to meetings with my advisers, who had the good sense to attempt to hide their annoyance with my connection to the Kirkland family, although at first they had made a few comments hoping to discourage me from spending time with Arthur.

At night Arthur and I did more than just have sex. Arthur helped me study the history of the kingdom I now ruled and explained the complicated relationships between the noble families of Spades.

After a few weeks of Arthur regularly attending my adviser meetings, I was handed an opportunity on a silver platter.

One of my advisers had gotten it into his head to match me with the younger sister of the King of Clubs. Now, Ivan, the King of Clubs, and Natalia, his sister, both did not favor this match and neither did I, but there were a few nobles in both kingdoms that kept pushing for a marriage between me and Natalia. I pointed out that we objected to this match and that it would be much better for my queen to be someone who was familiar with Spades, as I had grown up in the country, far from the politics and happenings of the capital. Most of my advisers nodded their agreement, though I knew many of them were hoping I'd pick someone from their families.

It was at this point that I suggested I marry Arthur, pointing out all the help he'd given me since I'd met him and how he was naturally skilled at running the kingdom. Immediately there was an uproar, all my advisers instantly began protesting my choice. When I demanded an explanation for their objections, they all fell silent, too afraid to tell me what they all knew. It was Arthur who stepped forward, Arthur who explained to me, and the whole room, that he had followed his family's tradition and been trained to be a companion for a member of the Spade Royalty or upper nobility. He bowed his head, apologized for taking up so much of my time, and turned to leave. I grabbed him and pulled him back to the table, questioning why his being trained in such things mattered, I wanted the queen to be able to help run my kingdom efficiently.

The room was silent. The nobles didn't approve of my choice, but they were too afraid of gaining my displeasure, and potentially that of the queen, to voice their opinions again. Then Yao Wang, the Jack of Spades, stepped forward. He supported my decision to make Arthur my queen and denounced the other nobles, calling them cowards. Yao pointed out that it was well known that I was a virgin, so there was no fear that any accusations that I had married Arthur for his training would stick, unless the nobles attempted to make their king look weak and invite an invasion.

The nobles backed down after that and conceded that Arthur was an acceptable choice. I made my move and asked Arthur to be my queen. He acted extremely embarrassed and only agreed after I insisted.

We celebrated our victory that night with sex, as we usually spent our nights. As I lay there, my arms wrapped loosely around Arthur's slender frame, basking in our combined warmth, I felt truly and deeply content, like I could live with nothing more than this in the world.

Arthur noticed this. "What are you thinking about?" he murmured, knowing all too well that I loved how free I was to talk when we were alone.

"I was just thinking," I started. Arthur interrupted me with some poorly suppressed laughter. "It happens," I protested, a little miffed at the slight to my intelligence, but loving how easy Arthur was with me. "Anyway, I was thinking that I'm happy right now, the happiest I've been in a while actually."

Arthur looked up at me, capturing me in his glittering emerald eyes. "Why would that be?" he asked, it seemed to me like he was almost afraid to hear the answer.

I stared at him, his pale skin and features darkened by the night, but his eyes were still their lovely intense green. "You, maybe," I whispered, the words so soft that they barely had sound.

His breath caught and he froze, he seemed almost paralyzed. I waited, unsure what to do, afraid of what would happen if I moved. "Me?" he finally said softly, the word barely a question.

"Maybe," I replied, offering him the only answer I could. This didn't seem to help at all as he was still obviously very tense. "I've felt sort of trapped ever since I came here," I continued, hoping to explain myself better. "With you I'm able to be myself more, say whatever I want. I don't have to pretend to be someone I'm not."

"Oh," was Arthur's only answer. He did relax a bit in my arms as he buried his flushing face into my chest. How he could remain cool while seducing his king, but become embarrassed when I mentioned that he made me feel comfortable baffled me.

I slowly ran my hand through his hair, enjoying how soft it was. "Yeah," I murmured. "My father kept me a secret. I don't think he wanted me to be king, I was just an accident. He was married to the last queen and apparently loved her very much and remained loyal to her even though she was barren. I was probably kept away from the palace because he didn't want to hurt her." Arthur hummed against my skin, his way of prompting me to continue. "No one even knew I existed until the king was on his death bed, he hadn't wanted to dishonor his wife's memory I guess. My mother had told me about my real father when I was ten, but neither of us thought that it would matter at all until Yao and the palace guards showed up at our house. As soon as they saw me, they knew. I look like my mother, and like Mattie, but my eyes, I've got the old king's eyes."

Arthur raised his head to look at me again. "I suppose you do," he answered softly. "I can't say I knew the old king, but no one can deny your eyes are quite blue." He stared at my eyes for a moment. "Quite blue," he repeated quietly. "Royal blue."

I nodded. "That's what they said. 'Royal blue. Could you please come with us, Your Majesty?'" I snorted. "Then Mama came out and demanded to know what was going on. 'The king is dead,' they announced. 'Your son was his only heir. He is the king now.' They took me away and I haven't been home since."

"And your family?" Arthur asked gently. I had no idea if he was genuinely interested or if he was just asking because he knew I wanted to talk about it.

"I haven't seen them," I replied, my arms tightening around him. "The king has a lot less freedom than you'd think. Can't leave the palace without an armed guard, can't travel to see my family unless it goes through all the proper channels, can't have a casual conversation with anyone. Except you."

Arthur tensed up again. "You and Yao," I expanded quickly. "But Yao's family visits often, and his cousin is the Queen of Hearts, so it's mostly you."

"Ah," was Arthur's strained reply.

"Yeah," I whispered, running my fingers through Arthur's hair. Then a yawn caught me by surprise and escaped my mouth.

Arthur chuckled and patted my cheek. "Go to sleep, Alfred," he said softly, soothingly. "You need your rest. We have a wedding to plan."

 **This is a very old story, my writing has greatly improved since. I'm uploading it here for archival purposes. Please keep that in mind before offering constructive criticism.**


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